An RUI proposal to study optical coatings, gravitational wave bursts above 1 kHz, and upconverted noise in suspension wires

该奖项支持改善下一代干涉引力波探测，先进LIGO及以后的光学涂层的研究。 Advanced LIGO的峰值灵敏度受到应用于Advanced LIGO测试质量的光学涂层的热噪声的限制。换句话说，随着涂层热噪声的降低，我们可以期望用先进的LIGO探测引力波事件的速率会上升。另一个重要的噪声源，由于光学涂层和影响潜在的检测率是热光噪声从光学涂层。 除了对先进LIGO的重大影响外，这些噪声源还严重限制了未来地基干涉引力波探测器的潜力。该奖项支持研究，以表征和降低Advanced LIGO原型涂层的热噪声和热光噪声水平，并用于Advanced LIGO的潜在未来升级。 适当时，还研究了其他涂层特性，如光学散射。安柏瑞德航空大学是一个技术导向的机构，吸引了大量有兴趣参与教师研究的本科物理学生。 该奖项使其中一些学生，特别是空间物理学学位课程的学生，能够以非常重要的方式参与LIGO相关研究。 安柏瑞德的几个学生参与了私家侦探的研究已经继续参与外部LIGO相关的实习，如加州理工学院的LIGO SURF计划和苏格兰格拉斯哥大学的本科研究人员。 这些经验有助于推动我们的学生在科学和研究方面取得丰硕成果。

This award supports research on improving optical coatings for next generation interferometric gravitational wave detection, Advanced LIGO and beyond. The peak sensitivity of Advanced LIGO is limited by thermal noise from the optical coatings applied to the Advanced LIGO test masses. In other words, the rate at which we can expect to detect gravitational wave events with Advanced LIGO goes up as coating thermal noise is reduced. Another significant noise source due to the optical coatings and affecting the rate of potential detections is thermo-optic noise from the optical coatings. In addition to the significant effect on Advanced LIGO, these noise sources place serious limits on the potential for future ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors. This award supports research to characterize and reduce the level of both thermal noise and thermo-optic noise from prototype coatings for Advanced LIGO and for potential future upgrades to Advanced LIGO. Other coating properties, such as optical scatter are also investigated when appropriate. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is a technically oriented institution attracting a large number of undergraduate physics students interested in participating in faculty research. This award enables a number of those students, particularly in the space physics degree program, to engage in a very significant way with LIGO-related research. Several Embry-Riddle students involved in the P.I.'s research have gone on to participate in external LIGO-related internships such as the LIGO SURF program at Caltech and as undergraduate researchers at Glasgow University in Scotland. These experiences help to propel our students to fruitful carears in science and research.